A Science Article Review of:

Be careful what you wish for: the legacy of Smokey Bear, 2007, Geoffrey H Donovan (USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station) and Thomas C Brown (USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station), Front Ecol Environ 2007; 5(2): 73–79, The Ecological Society of America, www.frontiersinecology.org (Full text here):

By Mike Dubrasich, SOS Forests

Introduction

There has been a terrible and catastrophic secret takeover in the US Forest Service; Smokey Bear has been assassinated and replaced by his evil twin, Incineration Bear. The “science” article under review is the work of Incineration Bear, as is much of the latest Federal forest and fire policy.

Incineration Bear has the USFS under his paw now, and that includes the research neck, as well as most of the rest of that bureaucracy.

The late, great, Smokey Bear wished to protect our forests from fire. Incineration Bear wishes to burn our forests to oblivion.
 
Incineration Bear does not advocate a new, moderate, middle way approach. Far from it. Incineration Bear is extremist in his insistent demands for holocaust, he worships at the altar of catastrophic megafire, and he lives in the city, not in the forest, of which he knows nothing and cares nothing about.

Incineration Bear is a trained bear on a chain who dances for urban zoo gapers. It is an ungainly and awkward dance, too, a spectacle of shame.

The article under review is not so much science as a political manifesto. Science requires some comportment with real world facts. Political manifestos do not, and indeed one of the telling characteristics of political manifestos is the wide berth they give to facts.

Continue reading this entry »

This picture of the blogging forester was taken two days ago in the B&B Burn (2003).

For a larger image click (here, 990KB)

The Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Society, in paid cooperation with the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, wants you to admire the beauty in this scene. They think they can convince you that dead, burned forests, such as the Deschutes NF pictured above, are lovely to behold (here, here, here, and here).

They take their cue from Cascadia Summer in 2003 (here):

The forest looked amazingly beautiful… [in] stark contrast to the lush green forests we were used to seeing along Fall Creek, but beautiful nonetheless. Ferns had already begun sprouting back up through the ash. Scorched Doug Firs and cedars sparkled in the sunlight…

Afterwards we chose a serene spot in the burn next to the creek and spoke of the energy we received from the forest. Then we jumped into the creek and promised the forest that we would use that energy to defend it at all costs from the greedy timber companies now drooling over the opportunity presented to them by this natural disturbance.

The trip to Clark seemed all the more appropriate with Bush coming to Oregon to ram his “healthy forest initiative” agenda down our throats. With a fire “spontaneously” occurring near Camp Sherman, where Bush was going to have a fundraiser and push his deforestation agenda, one has to wonder if this isn’t the future…

Many recent controversial “salvage” timber sales have officially been declared unsolved arsons.

The fire “near Camp Sherman” that the eco-terrorists/arsonists referred to was the B&B Fire, which roasted and destroyed 90,000 acres of the Deschutes NF. The aftermath, four years later, is pictured above.

It is not beautiful. Note that the blogging forester is not smiling.

Hello, there. This is a blog about forests. SOS Forests is created by a colloquium of forest experts, traditional practitioners, rural land stewards, scholars, scientists, and forest aficionados, and mostly the thing we colloquialize about is forests. That topic may seem narrowly focused for a blog, but actually it’s a big subject, and very interesting and important to us.

We try to do the top-notch, cutting-edge stuff re forests on this blog. We don’t sweat the small stuff, and we don’t look back, except at real history.

Continue reading this entry »

A group of radical Left eco-crazies are calling for the jailing of Agriculture Undersecretary for the USFS Mark Rey. The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) wants Mark Rey slapped in the pokey because the USFS has not written an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the use of fire retardant on forest fires.

From an AP report last week (here):

Bush Official Faces Contempt Charge for Not Studying Environmental Impact of Fire Retardant

Jeff Barnard, Associated Press, August 21, 2007

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A federal judge in Montana has ordered the Bush administration’s top forestry official to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for the U.S. Forest Service’s failure to analyze the environmental impact of dropping fish-killing fire retardant on wildfires.

If found in contempt, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, could go to jail until the Forest Service complies with the court order to do the environmental review.

Noting that Rey had blocked implementation of an earlier review, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Missoula, Mont., ordered Rey to appear in his court Oct. 15 unless the Forest Service completes the analysis before that time…

Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an environmental group based in Eugene, filed the lawsuit in 2003, a year after more than 20,000 fish were killed when toxic retardant was dropped in Fall Creek in central Oregon…

Andy Stahl, the group’s executive director, said it asked the judge to specifically hold Rey responsible…

Stahl said the Forest Service appears to be immune legally from fines, but not from jail time to pressure them to complete the environmental review.

“You can throw them in jail to coerce future good behavior,” Stahl said.

Some background:  In 2003 Andy Stahl and the FSEEE sued the US Government to throw a monkey wrench into the use of fire retardant on forest fires. Stahl does not want the USFS to use fire retardant. In their briefs, the FSEEE claimed that fire retardant had been accidentally dropped on firefighters, and it might have caused a rash in some, although no evidence of that was presented.

Nor was evidence presented that fire retardant has saved the lives of thousands of firefighters as well as millions of acres of forest and hundreds of thousands of homes, although that evidence is ample to the point of overwhelming.

Continue reading this entry »

WARNING: This post is not for children.

SOS Forests is a blog about forests. I occasionally deviate into peripheral issues, however, and this post is one such deviation.

US Senator Larry Craig (R, ID) was arrested June 11 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and was charged with “lewd conduct” to which he pled guilty and paid more than $500 in fines and fees. He was then released on his own recognizance, but was given a year of probation.

The lewd conduct was the solicitation of sex in the Men’s Room to an undercover policeman conducting a sting operation, allegedly because of complaints about such goings on at the airport.

The story, now stories plural, are available in much greater detail at the Idaho Statesman.Com (here):

Continue reading this entry »

This bit of gossip is too rich, in so many ways. Just in from SOSF media watchers is the news that Al “The Carbon Foot Prince” Gore served up endangered Chilean sea bass at his daughter’s wedding rehearsal dinner. From the London Daily Mail (here):

Eco-warrior Al Gore serves up endangered fish at daughter’s party

Daily Mail, 18th July 2007
 
Only a week after Live Earth, eco-warrior Al Gore didn’t do much for his green credentials when he shocked fellow environmentalists by serving up an endangered fish at his daughter’s wedding rehearsal dinner.

The former US vicepresident provided 75 guests with Chilean sea bass - one of the world’s most threatened fish species.

Gore, 59, who created the climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, sampled a sixcourse tasting menu at Beverly Hills’ Crustacean restaurant which included the sea bass - also known as Patagonian toothfish…

It is known as one of the world’s most endangered species of fish. Evidently a fact not known by the Gores.

Now now, Daily Mailers. Let’s not jump to conclusions. Al Gore is no dummy. Look, if he was a dummy, why would so many people have voted for him in 2000? Why would so many worship his teachings today? Nope, Al knew the entrée was a T&E rare delicacy; that’s why he wanted to eat the damn things.

Here is a pic of Al Gore as he is about to eat an endangered species:

Whoops. That was the main course, a Patagonian toothfish. Our bad.

No news yet on what the guests chowed down on at the actual wedding. We were thinking a nice stir fry of Komodo dragon, spotted owl, and snail darter would have been appropriate.

What is the role of the US Forest Service regarding our national forests? Are they supposed to manage them, care for them, protect them?

Nope.

In their eyes, their job is to burn them to the ground as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Wait, Mike. That accusation is unfair. How can you say such a thing?

Well, let’s see what they themselves have to say. In this revealing article a week ago in the Casper Star Tribune, the top dog in USFS fire management pats himself on the back for roasting forests (here):

Firefighting tab: $828M and counting

By Noelle Straub, Star-Tribune Washington bureau, August 18, 2007

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Forest Service has spent $828 million fighting wildfires across the country since last Oct. 1, with new cost containment measures having a real impact, agency officials said Thursday.

That figure, current as of Monday, is higher than the $750 million the agency had spent on fire suppression at the same point last year. But many more acres have burned this fire season, said Tom Harbour, the agency’s director of fire and aviation management.

“It’s been an extraordinary season,” Harbour said. “We’ve burned to date about 300 percent, three times the numbers of acres that we would typically burn based on a 10-year average. We’ve burned about 170 percent of the acres we burned at this time last year.”

There you have it. Tom “Holocaust” Harbour is DAMN PROUD of his record. Three times the acreage burned for only ten percent more bucks.

Holocaust Harbour got the burn out. In the old days the USFS tried to get the cut out, but that era is past and gone. There is a new mandate: roast America’s priceless, heritage forests to holy hell.

Continue reading this entry »

Idaho Governor Butch Otter and U.S. Sen. Larry Craig visited Ketchum today to view the Castle Rock Fire threatening Wood Valley towns and neighborhoods. Almost fifteen hundred firefighters are battling the 26,000+ acre fire. No homes have been reported to have burned as of this afternoon, according to a report in the Idaho Statesman (here).

Otter, Craig visit Ketchum today, express optimism that wildifre threat will ease in next few days
 
Idaho Statesman, 08/26/07, 5:30  PM

Gov. Butch Otter cut short his visit to deploying Idaho troops in Oklahoma today and flew directly to Ketchum to get updates and offer support as the Castle Rock fire continues to rage, a spokesman said.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig also traveled to Ketchum today. He and Otter said they are optimistic that the calm weather forecast for the next few days will bring respite from today’s winds and enable firefighters to get a handle on the blaze.

High winds in the area are aggravating the situation, but no buildings have been reported burned, officials said. More mandatory evacuations were issued Saturday for residents of more than 1,000 homes in the Greenhorn Gulch area about 5 miles south of Ketchum.

Heavy winds are expected until tonight and could blow embers across the area, which could threaten residences on both sides of Idaho 75. Ash is expected to fall over the Wood River Valley.

Highway 75 runs north-south down the center of the Wood River Valley, and so far the fire has been kept to the west of the highway.

The lightning-caused fire had grown to 40 square miles. Thomas said the main concern was embers blown ahead of the blaze that can start new fires. She said engines stationed at homes have put out such fires within 200 yards of buildings.

Some of the evacuated homes near the tony mountain town are worth millions of dollars, but the latest evacuation orders also include mobile home parks.

We have been unable to get into the InciWeb site this afternoon. Their weblines are jammed.

The National Weather Service has extended their high wind warnings to late evening. They also predict breezy conditions on Monday, and a southwesterly front to move in Tuesday. This front will be warmer and moister, meaning thunderstorms that may or may not include rain. Then another cold, dry, northwesterly front is expected next Friday or Saturday.

This shift back and forth between warm southerly fronts and cold northerly fronts produces the Palouse winds that are driving fire blowups today. These conditions (high winds, red flag warnings, extreme fire behavior) will repeat in a week, a pattern that has been going on every summer in the Northern Rockies for much of the Holocene.

Eventually a southerly front will bring enough rain to significantly dampen the fires. This generally takes place by mid-September, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. The Northern Rockies fire season will cool down considerably when those rains come. Other areas have different fire weather drivers. The California fire season, for instance, is just heating up.

The Castle Rock Fire has forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes on both sides of Highway 75 immediately south of Ketchum, Idaho.

The strong Palouse winds that drove the fire blowup yesterday are predicted to continue all day today and into the evening. Gusts of 55 mph were reported.

InciWeb is flooded with users. Despite bandwidth problems all summer, top-level officials of the USFS decided that installing another $2500 server was too much expense and bother. Hence we have not been able to access InciWeb this morning, a problem that is especially critical now for the residents of Idaho and Montana.

If you have any late-breaking news, please forward same  to SOS Forests by replying to (commenting on) this post. Thank you.

Fires raging in Greece have killed over fifty people. The main fires are on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, although new fires have broken out near Athens. The following report is a few minutes behind the TV reports coming out as I write.

From the International Herald Tribune (here):

Greece declares emergency as forest fires rage

By Anthee Carassava, August 25, 2007

ATHENS: Greece declared a national state of emergency on Saturday as scores of forest fires that have killed at least 46 people continued to burn out of control, leaving some villages trapped within walls of flames, cut off from firefighters and, in some cases, from firefighting aircraft grounded because of high winds.

Desperate people called television and radio stations pleading for help that they feared would not arrive in time.

“I can hear the flames outside my door,” one caller from the village of Andritsena told a Greek television station, according to Reuters news service. “There is no water anywhere. There is no help. We are alone.”

Although most of the fires have been on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, some broke out on the outskirts of Athens on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of homes and a monastery and closing a major road linking the capital to the main airport for several hours. The national fire brigade said that by evening it had brought those blazes under control, including one that came within about six miles of the city.

The government response to the fires, Greece’s worst in decades, is leading to renewed criticism of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis less than a month before parliamentary elections. Karamanlis had already been heavily criticized for his government’s handling of fires earlier this summer.

Mediterranean-climate brush fires are deadly. This should be a wake-up call for Central Coast and Southern California areas. But it probably won’t be. California has many smart people, but enmasse they are dumber than dirt. That’s what happens when you allow thieves, grafters, and Hollywood frauds to run your lives. Let Arnold do it. What a freaking idiot.